Newport, 26 July, 1861.
. . . From the first I have looked on our defeat1 in Virginia as a hard
lesson, not as a disaster to be greatly regretted. It has taught us much.
Instead of weakening confidence in our troops, the fight of last Sunday, in
spite of its issue, will strengthen their faith in themselves. And in its
effect on the public sentiment of the North it will be like the fall of Sumter.
Everything that makes the attainment of our object in fighting more difficult,
makes it at the same time more certain. Had we marched only to easy victory we
might have had but half a triumph: now the triumph of our cause is
likely to be complete. Nothing tears veils like cannon-shot, and the dullest
eyes are beginning to see the real cause and the true remedy of our troubles.
The emancipation of Virginia from slavery was finally settled, I think, last
Sunday.
The New York papers, always excepting the “Evening Post,” go
from bad to worse, the “Tribune” leading the rest. Fortunately none of them
have much effect on public opinion, and they are losing most of what they may
hitherto have possessed. “II y a quelqu'un qui a plus d'esprit que M. de Voltaire:
c'est tout le monde.” The downfall of the fourth estate need not be wept over.
. . .
_______________
1 At Bull Run.
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters
of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 237-8
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